The Samurai In The Period From 1600 To 1868
The main features of the samurai in the period from 1600 to 1868 are samurai stop fighting and Confucianism become popular and really influential in Japan.
1600 to 1868 is the Tokugawa period. In this period, Tokugawa brought an end to the warfare. Therefore, one characteristic from 1600 to 1868 was about samurai stop fighting. Specifically, samurai no longer needed to fight wars or were worried about how to earn a life. They transferred from warriors into civil administrators, and samurai could acquire a basic education about Confucian ideas.
Another feature was about that the Confucianism became popular and really influential in Japan. The Confucian education was exist in two levels. One level was popular education, which was the basis
of samurai education. There wasn’t standard school system, Japan was divided into different areas, and whether there was a school depends on the local government. After a period of time, although samurai didn’t really understand things profoundly, they had a understanding of basic Confucianism and they were familiar with virtues which were think highly in Confucian, for example, filial piety, loyalty and duty because Confucian text about following virtues were used in the textbook to teach people. To be specific, filial piety is about showing respect to parents, and loyalty means being loyal to who is important in a ethical way. Another level was the rise of secular intellectuals, They were a tiny group of small scholars who had a deep understanding about Confucian, explored Confucianism in a profound level and discussed the nature of society. These people issued books about their thinking, but they sometimes met dangerous situation because the Tokugawa government has restriction on free speech. Meanwhile, the group of small scholars were significant, because they discussed the big issue, especially the relationship between Japan and China. Some of these Confucian scholars held the view that Japan is inferior than China, while others argue that Japan is superior than China, which gave rise to the early form of Japanese nationalism. This also had a great impact on the real nationalism in the Meiji Restoration.
As far as I’m concerned, the rise of the early form of Japanese nationalism in this period was the foundation of the real Japanese nationalism, and the prosper of Japan in political and economic areas.
1600 to 1868 is the Tokugawa period. In this period, Tokugawa brought an end to the warfare. Therefore, one characteristic from 1600 to 1868 was about samurai stop fighting. Specifically, samurai no longer needed to fight wars or were worried about how to earn a life. They transferred from warriors into civil administrators, and samurai could acquire a basic education about Confucian ideas.
Another feature was about that the Confucianism became popular and really influential in Japan. The Confucian education was exist in two levels. One level was popular education, which was the basis
of samurai education. There wasn’t standard school system, Japan was divided into different areas, and whether there was a school depends on the local government. After a period of time, although samurai didn’t really understand things profoundly, they had a understanding of basic Confucianism and they were familiar with virtues which were think highly in Confucian, for example, filial piety, loyalty and duty because Confucian text about following virtues were used in the textbook to teach people. To be specific, filial piety is about showing respect to parents, and loyalty means being loyal to who is important in a ethical way. Another level was the rise of secular intellectuals, They were a tiny group of small scholars who had a deep understanding about Confucian, explored Confucianism in a profound level and discussed the nature of society. These people issued books about their thinking, but they sometimes met dangerous situation because the Tokugawa government has restriction on free speech. Meanwhile, the group of small scholars were significant, because they discussed the big issue, especially the relationship between Japan and China. Some of these Confucian scholars held the view that Japan is inferior than China, while others argue that Japan is superior than China, which gave rise to the early form of Japanese nationalism. This also had a great impact on the real nationalism in the Meiji Restoration.
As far as I’m concerned, the rise of the early form of Japanese nationalism in this period was the foundation of the real Japanese nationalism, and the prosper of Japan in political and economic areas.